My research interests follow two paths. The first concerns research synthesis. I study how research syntheses can best be carried out and how their results can be communicated to general audiences as well as scholars. My students and I have published research syntheses in varied fields, including personality and social psychology, developmental psychology, educational psychology, education policy, marketing, and developmental medicine and child neurology.
Second, I am interested in the application of social and developmental psychology to educational policy issues. Our recent research includes syntheses on the effects of (a) homework,(b) the length of the school day and year and (c) full-day kindergarten on academic performance. We are currently working on syntheses of research on the effectiveness of academic tutoring and have initiated a new series of reviews on how grades and grading strategies affect academic performance and related thoughts, feelings and behaviors.
Finally, after serving as editor of the Psychological Bulletin from 2003 through mid-2009, I now serve as the co-editor of Archives of Scientific Psychology, APA's first open access, data sharing journal. I also serve as the editorial advisor for the APA journals program.

Cooper, H; Koenka, AC (2012).
The overview of reviews: unique challenges and opportunities when research syntheses are the principal elements of new integrative scholarship.. American Psychologist, 67(6), 446-462. [doi] [abs]

H. Cooper (2012).
Handbook of Research Methods in Psychology.. American Psychological Association.